Much has been made of the Democrats flipping control of the state House of Representatives in the Nov. 8 General Election by a razor thin margin, but, wait a minute, not so fast.

When members of the new legislative session are sworn in during elaborate ceremonies in early January, Republicans will have a temporary 101-99 edge. This adds up to 200, but there are 203 members in the General Assembly’s lower house, so what about the other three seats?

State Rep. Anthony DeLuca, D-Allegheny, died about a month before the General Election but too late to remove his name from the ballot. Nonetheless, he was elected posthumously. A special election must be held to fill the slot, although in this heavily Democratic district, a Democrat most assuredly will prevail.

As for the other two seats, Reps. Summer Lee and Austin Davis, also Allegheny County Democrats, won re-election at the same time they were running for other offices and also won.

Davis was part of the Josh Shapiro-for-governor ticket and becomes Pennsylvania’s next lieutenant governor, while Lee won a Congressional seat. This means they must resign their state House positions.

By the way, it is legal for candidates to keep their present office while running for another one, but I find it the equivalent of trying to steal home with your foot on third base. If I had my way, a candidate seeking a different office should be compelled to resign from his or her current office.

Lee and Davis were not the only ones to do what they did. Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano remains state senator from Franklin County despite being handily defeated by Shapiro on Nov. 8. If he chooses to seek re-election, Mastriano’s term ends at the end of next year, meaning he would run again in 2024 for an additional four-year term.

Because Lee and Davis also represent heavily Democratic districts, their replacements will likely be Democrats, so when their replacements and DeLuca’s are elected, the Democrats will have 102 seats to the Republicans’ 101.

This razor thin majority will be important to keep during the two-year legislative session that begins early next year, but Democrats also know that, on average, nearly five legislators need to be replaced every session because of death, job changes or other factors.

When state lawmakers win other elective office, they must be replaced by a special election that is extremely costly to the counties in which these elections take place.

In addition, since they are typically outside of the normal primary/General Election cycles, turnout is generally minimal. Waiting for this process to unfold also means that constituents are without representation in Harrisburg for at least weeks, possibly months.

By law, the vacancies must be filled by no longer than the primary elections on May 16, but since Josh Shapiro is a Democrat, it is expected that he will make sure special elections are held before the vacancies are unfilled for 4½ months.

When the General Assembly members are sworn in next month, there will be some new local faces:

Republican Jamie Barton of East Brunswick Township will represent the 124th District seat being vacated by Jerry Knowles of Tamaqua, who chose to retire.

Republican Jarrett Coleman of Upper Macungie Township will be seated as the 16th senatorial District’s representative replacing Pat Browne whom he defeated in the primary.

Democrat Nick Miller of Allentown, whose district includes parts of Lehigh and Northampton counties, becomes the senator in the newly created 14th District following his victory in the General Election over Republican Dean Browning. Miller, who turned 28 on Dec. 1., is now the youngest state senator in 135 years. A senator must be at least 25 years old to serve. The 14th District was formerly located farther north and was represented by John Yudichak, a former Democrat who became an Independent and who chose not to run for re-election in 2022. Carbon County, formerly represented by Yudichak, will now be represented in the new legislative session by Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill.

Democrat Joshua Siegel of Allentown, whose newly reconfigured 22nd House District includes parts of Allentown and Salisbury Township.

Although not a new face, Republican Rep. Rosemary Brown of East Stroudsburg, becomes Sen. Brown when she is sworn in after having won the 40th District seat held by Mario Scavello, R-Monroe and Northampton, who did not seek re-election.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com